Local Marketing Firm Could Help Promote Yorkville Tourism

What does the popular social bookmarking site Pinterest have to do with Yorkville?

It could have a lot to do with it, if the village decides to partner with to help brand the town.

Jason Pesola, owner of the Yorkville-based company, told aldermen at Tuesday's City Council meeting that social media sites such as Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter would be just some of the avenues he would pursue to increase tourism.

“How many times have you heard, ‘Oh, you have a water park out there?’ I hear it constantly,” Pesola said. “We have one of the largest water parks in the state of Illinois. We have state parks and historic buildings. There’s so much going on in the downtown area as well as surrounding area. People need to know about this."

Pesola said social media is currently being underutilized by the city. But he said by using Pinterest, Twitter and the city’s existing Facebook page to promote events and attractions around Yorkville, more traffic could be driven to the city.

Pesola Media Group would also create and maintain an interactive website for the city.

“I would personally love to see the growth and development of Yorkville,” Pesola said. “Pesola Media Group has prided itself on always doing what I say I’m going to do. We say we will do it, we will. Our main goal is to create and drive the brand of Yorkville. If we have a cohesive brand we’re going to drive traffic to the city of Yorkville.”

Pesola’s fee would be 90 percent of the city’s generated hotel tax revenue.

“The bang for your buck is exponential,” he said. “I would love to see Yorkville explode. I see a very bright future for the city.”

Mayor Gary Golinski said the issue would be discusse further at the committee level.

Village officials could choose to go with the local firm rather than renewing its agreement with the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Some aldermen have .